Post-Covid Connectivity for the Office

Just over a year ago, COVID drove the nation into a state of remote work. Whilst many employees will opt to work from home as we embark on the new ‘normal’, others will be sat in anticipation of that email declaring they may return to the office – if they haven’t received it already.

Regardless of preference, it’s now down to business leaders to make sure their employee’s work processes complement and interact with one another seamlessly. However, it’s not as simple as you might think.

Hybrid workforces pose a number of new challenges businesses haven’t necessarily considered. But the facts remain. Reliable connectivity is a must regardless of location, therefore businesses need to adapt further or risk being left behind during the COVID-19 recovery.

But just how does a post COVID future and the potential for hybrid workforces impact our processes – and what do businesses need to do?

A call for better office connectivity

Although there may be fewer people in the office at any one time, those that are there will likely consume far more bandwidth than ever before. This is thanks to face-to-face meetings and voice calls transitioning to video and demanding over 10x the bandwidth*. As a result, this calls for scaling workplace connectivity to meet this new demand.

The fight for bandwidth in and out of the office

Hot desking has taken on a brand-new meaning with employees now setting up camp from sofas, café’s and gardens. Those companies embracing this flexibility must now provide reliable homeworker VPN access to on premise critical systems, data and shared drives. This is so remote employees can work efficiently – while staff in the office clog up bandwidth.

Whilst an empty office may have posed no challenges, that might not be the case when supporting both models simultaneously – with remote access creating much higher volumes of traffic coming in and out of these data sources.

Early risers vs night owls

Thanks to our newfound love for flexible work, many businesses are now open to their employees fitting work around their personal schedules. For example, looking after their children, attending a midday yoga class, or doing the weekly food shopping before the 5pm rush. This means employees now are working earlier, later, and less in between. Therefore their connectivity needs to match up. As a result, enter scalable bandwidth.

With bandwidth now able to altered to meet peaks and troughs in demand, you can help your workforce work more efficiently when they’re connected, and boost your bottom line when they’re not.